2018 Cantina di Montalcino Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany 750 ml

Every vintage, the Cantina di Montalcino flies out of the warehouse into our members’ cellars. It’s a perennial paragon of excellence and value—and the 2018 shows exactly what makes it a massive winner. 

As Montalcino’s lone cooperative, Cantina di Montalcino taps a network of a hundred small growers, which gives them a massively rich palette. In the classic 2018 harvest, they’ve put forth a bottle with rich fruit that also manages to be approachable now.

Cantina di Montalcino sits on the famed Tuscan hill of Montosoli among celebrated estates like Le Chiuse and Valdicava, whose Brunellos fetch three-digit prices. The co-op’s brilliant winemaking talents have kept costs down through the diversity of growers at their disposal—without sacrificing a sliver of quality. 

In a year like 2018, that collection of growers made all the difference in the world. It was a “cool, classic, transparent vintage” reminiscent of the long-lived vintages of the 1970s, according to Lisa Perrotti-Brown of The Wine Independent. 

The Cantina’s members hail from across the Brunello growing zone, each tending vineyards that have their own distinct microclimates. That meant the winemaking team had a broad collection of raw materials to work with. Rather than hoping for luck—like most small growers working a single plot do—they were able to blend the best material from across the region into their Brunello and declassify the rest, giving them a wine that stands far above the field.

Vinified traditionally, with 30 months of aging in large oak casks to soften the tannins before bottling, this is a calling card for a producer that’s been singled out as one of “the best Italian co-ops” by Decanter. It’s a rare Brunello value!